Innehållsförteckning för August 2024 från Woodworker's Journal

One of the biggest pains of using portable power tools is connecting their various-sized dust ports to a shop vacuum hose. You’ve likely tried all manner of shop-made “adapters” or even just used wrap upon wrap of duct tape, only to have the hose disconnect anyway. That problem will be a thing of the past with Rockler’s clever Dust Right® FlexiPort Power Tool Hose Kit. It includes a ribbed stretch hose that expands from 3' to 12' with a pair of Click-Connect fittings that thread into either end — one serves as an adapter and the other is a 2¼" O.D. port for plugging into a shop vac inlet. Four gray rubber swiveling FlexiPorts conform to fit dust outlets on a variety of portable power tools. Then, the hose adapter…

Dr. Sim Galazka has spent more time in a medical office than a machine shop, based on the 25 readers who provided answers to his April issue mystery tool. All offered similar replies. “It’s a dial indicator,” reports Gerry Howington. “It is attached beside a piece of rotary work on a lathe to determine the eccentricity in centering that piece on the spindle (among other uses),” says Billie “Bugs” Dunlap. John Wolf adds, “The test indicator is fastened in the lathe’s tool holder with the rectangular-in-cross-section bar. The small movable arm is adjusted so that it is touching the object that is to be turned. The chuck jaws are adjusted until the object is centered as determined by the movement of the hand in the dial.” Steven LaPalme, a toolmaker…

Back in the late 1970s, Ernie Conover began teaching woodworking classes. At the time, he and his father, also named Ernie Conover, were manufacturing the Conover Lathe, “and we decided to offer classes so that we could get people to use the machine properly and safely.” The Conover Lathe is no longer manufactured, but Ernie is still teaching classes both in general woodworking and in his specialty of woodturning. “If they wanted to learn to carve sculptures or something, I’d send them elsewhere, but for general woodworking, I’ll teach just about anything I know how to do,” Conover says. As for turning, “Turning is kind of like playing the piano. You can buy a Steinway, but unless you, first of all, have a teacher to guide you and then, secondly,…

Some Sunsets are Bittersweet OUR NEXT ISSUE WILL BE OUR LAST. “We all come to the end of the road sometime” is a quote from a favorite television show of mine that has stuck with me. It’s prophetic and true of all things, of course, even for long-standing publications such as Woodworker’s Journal. That’s why I regret to announce that our next issue (October) will be our last. For some, this news likely will come as an unpleasant surprise, but for others, it’s simply another sign that our online age influences nearly everything, sooner or later. Truthfully, print publishing faces ever more challenging times. Paper, ink and mailing costs are on the rise. Print advertising is a tough sell in a web-based world. Readers are seeking woodworking content on the…

Keep a Clean Glue Bottle Spout in Reserve Between uses, the spouts of my glue bottles dry and clog up, so I have to spend time cleaning them before I can even get started on a project. But I finally found a solution: I saved the spout from an empty glue bottle and soaked it in water for a few minutes to clean it. When I finished my next glue-up, I replaced the “dirty” spout on that bottle with the clean one I had saved and immediately soaked the dirty one. Cycling the spouts this way, my glue bottle always has a clean spout to start with and a clean replacement waiting in reserve when I finish. Dusty Williams Redlands, California Resawing Point Fence Here’s a nifty way to turn…

There are a lot of barstool designs out there. When I decided to make one for me, it took a while to come up with a design that would be an interesting form as well as a functional seat. I think the lines of this design, formed by careful shaping and the unique use of dovetails, make it a beautiful project as well as very enjoyable to build. I wouldn’t say it is an easy project, but the following directions should lead you fairly seamlessly to completion. Ash: A Great Species Choice My wood of choice for many projects these days has changed from my usual walnut to ash. Structurally and aesthetically, ash is a truly wonderful hardwood. It is mostly blond with grain similar to oak, but ash has…

Conceptually, track saws are simple: The sole plate of a circular saw is shaped with grooves on the bottom surface. These grooves fit onto rails on the track’s top surface. The track-and-saw combination is placed as a unit on a workpiece, typically sheet goods and other materials too large or cumbersome for a table saw. This is where the “take-the-saw-to-the-work” idea originated. For the longest time, there was only one track saw brand out there. Festool invented the category in the early 1960s and then owned the market for decades. The company refined the tool in the early ’80s, adding a plunge-cut action to the tool as well as incorporating a trim strip on the track edge that minimizes splintering. It took more than 40 years, but other manufacturers caught…

We all encounter some materials in the shop that can’t be cut appropriately with a chisel, pocket knife or power tool. Wood veneer, caning, cardboard templates or thick chair webbing call for heavy-duty scissors, and that’s where Rockler’s 10" Shop Shears with Sheath will come in handy. Its long offset handles with ergonomic thermoplastic overmolds create better blade position and alignment during use to reduce stress on your hands and fingers while delivering ample leverage. The sharp, durable stainless-steel blades with titanium coating offer 4" cutting length. An included sheath snaps over the blades to protect the edges when not in use. These 10" Shop Shears with Sheath (item 79300) are priced at $19.99. Black Medium-Thick Viscosity CA Glue from Starbond could be just the hybrid adhesive and filler you’ve been…